


In My Book of Jealousy

by emraldmoon



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Iron Man - Freeform, IronDad and SpiderSon, Irondad, Irondad fluff, Jealous Tony Stark, Spider-Man - Freeform, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Uncle James "Rhodey" Rhodes, spiderson, war machine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-13 12:02:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18468556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emraldmoon/pseuds/emraldmoon
Summary: Peter goes shopping for a Halloween costume with a little help from Tony and Rhodes.





	In My Book of Jealousy

When Peter walked into the tower for one of his weekly lab days with Tony, he was visibly bouncing with excitement.

Next week was Halloween. Halloween meant smiling kids, fun, and candy.

And Peter had the perfect costume.

He stepped into the elevator, F.R.I.D.A.Y. alerting him she’d be bringing him to the kitchen rather than the lab, because that’s where Tony was. Peter thanked her, and continued bouncing on the balls of his feet, positively beaming.

After finding the designated floor, the elevator doors opened, Peter only noticing James Rhodes sitting with Tony at the table once he had skipped out. The two men looked up at him with amusedly surprised looks on their faces when they saw him.

“Hey, underoos,” Tony greeted, smiling as he fiddled with the coffee cup in front of him before taking a sip.

“Hi, Mr. Stark! Mr. Colonel Rhodey, sir.”

“Hi, Peter,” James replied, impressed with the teenager’s manners. “What’s got you so chipper?”

Peter clasped his hands behind his back, rocking on his heels as he beamed. “Halloween.”

“Ah, that’s right,” Tony sighed. “The one day of the year it’s socially acceptable for kids to take candy from strangers. To go begging for it, actually.”

James shoved Tony with his elbow, shaking his head at Peter as if to say,  _ What an idiot.  _ Peter giggled behind his hand.

“Hey. No.  _ No _ . You two are  _ not  _ having a secret conversation without me.” Tony held up a finger, trying to act stern, just making Peter laugh even more.

“Jealous, Tones?”

“You, be quiet. You’re not stealing my kid.”

Peter laughed, too gleeful to notice the hint of seriousness in Tony’s voice. James did, though, immediately changing the subject.

“You got a costume, Peter?”

Peter’s eyes lit up with excitement, even brighter than they had been when he entered. He was still bouncing on the balls of his feet, and James would’ve offered him a seat at the table, though he knew the kid would be too nice to say no and if he stopped moving for a second, he’d explode.

“Yes! It’s the best costume  _ ever _ .”

“Well, don’t leave us in the dark!”

Tony raised his coffee cup to his lips, content with having his best friend dominate the conversation.

“I’m going as Spider-Man!”

Tony choked on his coffee.

“Nope. No. Nuh-uh.” Tony stood from the table, his voice stern, no room for negotiation.

Peter’s face fell as his feet finally found solid ground. “What? Why not?

“Yeah, Tones, why not?” James was staring up at his friend, the corners of his mouth twitching up amusedly. Tony shot him a death glare.

“What if people find out you’re Spider-Man?” Tony reasoned, crossing his hands over his chest. “What if they’ve been suspecting something and then they see you in the full-out suit? That’s too much proof to ignore.”

“Well then, I’ll actually go as Spider-Man, visiting kids, and not Peter Parker.”

Tony shook his head. “Too dangerous. What if there’s a villain looking for you?”

James scoffed. “On Halloween?”

Tony glared at him, but his intense eyes didn’t have any effect on the man anymore. “ _ Yes _ , on Halloween.”

Peter wasn’t letting up without a fight. “Well, what if I go as Peter Parker dressed as Spider-Man, in my so-called onesie?”

“You used to fight crime in that onesie, too. I’m sure  _ someone  _ will make the connection.”

Peter was absolutely deflated now. “Then, what am I supposed to do?”

Tony shrugged. “Get a new costume. I’m sorry, bud.”

“I guess I could use my bedsheet and go as a ghost again-”

“What the-” Tony squinted his features in confusion. “Kid, you’re not going as a bedsheet ghost.”

Peter shrunk into himself in embarrassment. “Well, as long as it doesn’t rain, I guess a toilet-paper mummy would work, too-”

“Geez, kid, you’re dealing with a billionaire here. I’m not letting you go out there in some kind of generic, poor-person costume.”

James wanted to slap his best friend. His dumb, idiotic best friend. Did Tony not realize that by definition, the Parkers  _ were  _ poor? Did he not catch the word  _ again  _ in Peter’s short monologue, suggesting he’s had to wear these costumes before?

Apparently, Tony  _ didn’t  _ realize, because he continued as if nothing had happened.

“We’re going out to the store and buying you a costume.”

If that  _ poor-person  _ comment had affected Peter, he didn’t show it now, his eyes widening as he shifted his weight between feet.

“Right now?”

Tony nodded.

“What about lab day?”

“The lab will be here when we get back,” Tony shrugged, and Peter was practically jumping again, his eyes glowing with the kind of light and innocence only a child could have - well, a child, and Peter Parker.

Tony moved to put his cup in the sink, James staring after him with an incredulous smile. He had never seen Tony act like such a  _ dad  _ before. Wow, he  _ really  _ loved this kid.

“Well, are you coming, Pete? You too, sour patch,” Tony called over his shoulder as he headed for the door, and Peter practically bounded after him, James shaking his head as he slowly pushed himself to his feet and following not far behind.

“Thank you, Mr. Stark!” Peter laughed, and his giddiness made James himself start to get excited. “I promise I’ll pay you back.”

James almost walked into Tony, with how quick the man stopped; though, James was expecting it, after hearing a comment like that.

“And why on earth would I want that?”

Peter shrugged, looking sheepish, and Tony sighed, resting a hand on Peter’s shoulder as he resumed their walk.

“You think I care about a measly little Halloween costume? This won’t even put a dent in my account balance.”

The trio piled into the elevator, Tony standing with his arm around Peter near the back while James pressed the button, hiding his face from the pair. He knew Tony wouldn’t approve of how much he was smiling right now, and if he made any comments about Tony being a dad or feeling any kind of affection towards Peter whatsoever, he would be shut down before he could say three words. So he kept to himself, even though he could fill books with all the proof the man was currently eliciting.

They all got into one of Tony’s cars in the garage, James driving while the other two sat in the back, Tony trying to look cool and suave and without a care in the world while Peter bounced up and down in his seat beside him. The man tried to act tough, but every single time James looked in the mirror, without fail, he saw Tony glance over at the kid, a smile playing on his lips.

James was  _ definitely  _ going to tease him about it later.

Soon enough, they arrived at the costume store, Tony previously giving James instructions to drive to the largest one with the most selection. If the kid was buying a costume, Tony was going to buy him the most expensive one they had, covering him with accessories until he was barely recognizable.

Peter practically ran into the store, his eyes raking over the different racks and shelves with excitement. James and Tony followed not far behind. Peter looked like a kid in a candy store, and James tried to ignore the fact that it was most likely because it had been  _ years  _ since he’d bought a formal Halloween costume.

James was regretting not putting a child leash on the kid as he started running up and down aisles, pointing out different costumes and accessories. At different times, he ran up to Tony with a Mickey Mouse ears, a onesie of Disney’s Stitch, and a three-person costume of Boo, Mike, and Scully from Monsters, Inc. (which was James’ personal favourite, but Tony wasn’t impressed).

Though, nothing compared to when he found the superhero aisle.

Tony had to shush him multiple times with how loud he was shouting about inconsistencies in the costumes (“Doesn’t Clint have hearing aids?”), and he practically starting vibrating when he came across a replica of the Iron Man suit (to which Tony replied simply, “Absolutely not.”).

And then he found a Spider-Man costume, and a young girl looking at it.

He finally stilled when he laid eyes in the costume, seeing the girl approach it, squeal, and drag her father over to look at it with her.

“Daddy, look, Spider-Man! Please, please?” Peter heard from down the aisle, even without using his powers - but her dad just shook his head.

“No, sweetie, this is for boys. Come on, let’s go find the princess aisle.”

Peter’s fists clenched at his sides and he began to step towards the father leading the dejected girl away. Suddenly, there was a hand on his shoulder, holding him back.

“Nope. Don’t get involved, kid,” Tony muttered into his ear, Peter shrugging him off as the pair left his sight.

“That’s not right,” he said passionately, and he saw Tony staring down at him sadly, James giving him a similar look from over his shoulder. “Spider-Man isn’t just for  _ half  _ of the world, he’s for  _ everyone _ .”

“I know, kid,” Tony sighed. “You can’t get involved in that, though. It’s that man’s choice how to parent his child, and even if you went to talk to him about it, I doubt he’d change his mind.”

Peter sighed frustratingly, breaking eye contact to look around the store. Suddenly, his eyes caught something on a nearby shelf that sparked an idea. He picked it up and looked down at it smugly, before looking back up at Tony.

“Kid, nothing you can say will make him change his mind. Trust me, I’ve dealt with people like him before.”

“Let me try.”

James stepped forwards, glancing at Tony. “Can’t hurt, can it?”

Finally, Tony caved, giving Peter a small smile.

“You’re an amazing kid, you know that?”

Peter beamed in reply before turning and hurrying down the aisle in the direction the small family had went, hearing Tony sigh contently behind him.

He found the pair exactly where he expected to - staring at princess dresses. The father was holding a particularly bright pink one out to the girl, who was sadly staring in the direction of the superhero aisle. She took a small step back when she saw Peter approaching, her dad too engulfed in the task at hand to notice him.

Slowly, Peter kneeled down a few steps away from the girl and held out his hand, uncurling his fingers to show her what was inside.

A small, plastic spider.

She looked down at it curiously, taking a step closer, and then another, until she was standing right in front of Peter, staring up at him.  _ She’s really lucky I’m not a kidnapper _ , Peter thought, and then he wanted to slap himself for thinking something so stupid.

“I’m Peter, what’s your name?” he said quietly, giving her a soft smile.

“Cindy.”

Her voice was quiet and high-pitched, but her pronunciation was perfect.

“Hiya, Cindy.” She smiled in response. “I saw you looking at the Spider-Man costume back there. You like Spider-Man?”

Cindy nodded, smiling brightly. Peter shot his eyes quickly to her father, who was still engrossed in the princess costumes. Peter badly wanted to just stand up and tell that man how he felt, but he had told Tony he wouldn’t engage.

“I brought you a little present. A little spider, for Spider-Man. You like it?” Cindy nodded, beaming as she grabbed the rubber spider out of his hands and stared at it intensely, playing with the legs.

“Can I tell you a secret, Cindy? If I tell you, you can’t tell anybody.”

She looked up, her face suddenly serious, and she nodded quickly. Peter wanted to laugh at her eagerness. She was just like him.

“Cindy, I am Spider-Man.”

The little girl’s eyes went wide as she stared at Peter, and his face replicated her own. The pure  _ joy  _ on her face was enough to brighten his entire  _ week _ .

“Really?” she whispered, childhood wonder filling her eyes, and Peter nodded, his curls falling in his face as she giggled quietly.

“But as Spider-Man, I need to tell you something super important.”

“Okay.”

“You can be anything you want to be when you grow up - or even right now, okay?”

“Even Spider-Man?” she whispered, her voice spiking with excitement. Again, Peter nodded.

“Yes, even Spider-Man.”

Suddenly, the girl was rushing into his arms, Peter astonished her dad was  _ still  _ buried in the costumes as he hugged her back quickly before letting go. He gently reached out and touched the hand she was gripping the spider in, smiling softly.

“Just our secret, okay?”

Cindy nodded quickly, trying to look serious; but the toothy grin betrayed her.

“Thank, you, Spider-Man.”

Peter stood and walked back down the aisle the way he came, just in time to see the dad turn back around with a lace purple dress in his hand. He noticed the girl clench the spider tighter in her fist before he turned the corner.

Tony was looking at him questionably when he returned, but Peter just shrugged.

“You look very happy.”

Peter ignored him, instead continuing to look at the costumes on the shelves. James whispered something to Tony behind his back, but Peter was too happy to care what it was.

Suddenly, he felt a presence at his side, and turned to see James standing there, a sneaky grin on his face.

“I have an idea for a costume,” he said, just quietly enough so Tony couldn’t hear him.

“What are you two talking about?

“Nothing, Tones. Go wait in the car.”

“ _ What? _ ”

James waved him off. “Just go. We’ll meet you out there soon.”

Tony slowly left, looking skeptical. Only when the glass door shut behind him did James tell Peter his idea, which had Peter laughing behind his hand once again. It was  _ genius _ .

As he held the bag with his costume safely concealed inside and exited the store beside James, Peter noticed Cindy leaving the store with her own costume, a red-and-black dress, the rubber spider held securely in her small fist.

_ A compromise _ , Peter thought with a smile.

  * • •



_ \- One week later - _

“Peter, hurry up. Ned’s probably waiting,” Tony called up the stairs to the guest bedroom of the tower where Peter was changing into his costume. It wasn’t technically a lab day, but Tony wanted to see the costume Peter had chose. He had kept it a secret for an entire  _ week _ , and James had only smirked whenever Tony asked about it. Needless to say, he was curious. May was working, too, so Tony thought, why not take the kid in for the evening?

Rhodes was standing beside him, beaming when Peter called down, “Okay, are you ready?”

Peter was  _ never  _ able to keep a secret, so the fact that he had kept quiet for a week, and by how  _ excited  _ James was, Tony wasn’t sure how worried he should be. Probably a lot.

Then, Peter started walking down the stairs.

Yup. He should’ve been worried.

He should’ve been  _ very  _ worried.

The first thing he saw was the red and blue shield.

“ _ No! _ ” Tony practically shouted when he saw his intern,  _ Iron Man _ ’s intern, descending the stairs dressed as Captain- _ freaking _ -America.

James was in a fit of laughter beside him.

Tony couldn’t take his eyes off Peter as he reached the ground floor, smiling sheepishly at Tony, who just shook his head disapprovingly.

“I can’t believe you.”

“To be fair, it was Mr. Colonel Rhodey’s fault,” Peter tried to stutter, but Tony was having none of it. He couldn’t form coherent words as he looked down at Peter Parker, the stupid red and white stripes over his stomach, the dumb winged helmet on his head.

“I  _ cannot  _ believe you. Peter Benjamin Parker, how  _ dare  _ you betray me like this?”

Peter’s face fell, and he stared down at the shield dejectedly.

“I, uh, sorry, Mr. Stark, I just thought it would be a funny joke.”

Tony shut his eyes, sighing deeply. James’ laughter had ceased from beside him. He reopened his eyes and quickly stepped to Peter, resting a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey.” Peter looked up at him, embarrassed. “Peter, I’m just joking, okay? You look great.”

And that was all it took for Peter to be beaming again.

“Thanks, Mr. Stark!” he laughed, before gasping in surprise. “I almost forgot my candy bucket!”

“Yeah, that’s important,” Tony called after him as he bounded up the stairs. Suddenly, Tony’s legs became surprisingly weak, and he stumbled forward to sit on the stairs. James sat beside him, and even with Tony’s eyes closed and his head in his hands, he could  _ feel  _ how pleased James was with himself.

“What’d you think, Tones?”

“I hate you.”

James stopped suddenly, the laughter dying from his voice.

“Tony, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Tony sighed, adjusting his position so he had a hand running through his air as his elbow rested on his knee. “If I had a choice between Iron Man and Captain America, I’d choose Captain America, too.”

James rolled his eyes. “My goodness, Tony, is  _ that  _ what this is about?”

Tony shook his head. “No, I get it. It makes sense. Captain America’s a lot cooler. He’s enhanced, he’s got a cool shield-”

“Don’t do this to yourself, Tones.”

“Iron Man’s just a plain old, boring human.”

“Oh, my gosh. No. Stop.” James grabbed Tony’s shoulders and turned him to face him. “Tony, that kid  _ idolizes  _ you. He loves your lab days. Do you see the way his face lights up when you two work together?”

Tony just looked up at him, doubtful.

“Tony, can it with this self-pitying thing, alright? Look, this was my idea. Peter had nothing to do with it. It was supposed to be a  _ joke _ . Plus, he tried to choose the Iron Man costume. You shut it down. You can’t blame him for that.”

“I just didn’t expect him to go rushing to Captain America at the first opportunity he got.”

“Tony-” James was going to say something else when he heard footsteps at the top of the stairs. The two immediately bolted upright to resume their previous positions to meet a brightly-smiling Peter when he came back down, a pumpkin-shaped basket held tightly in the opposite hand of his shield.

“How do I look?” He held his basket-holding hand out, presenting himself to the two men.

“Great, kid.” Tony swallowed the bile in his throat as he lied through his teeth, ignoring the way James sighed beside him.

“Alright, well, I’m going out to meet with Ned now,” he sang as he skipped closer to the door.

“Have fun, bud. Stay safe,” James smiled in response before turning away and leaving the front foyer. Tony heard the t.v. turn on in the other room as Peter pulled on his black Captain America boots, the older man averting his gaze. Finally, Peter looked back up and smiled at Tony. He looked around, presumably for James; and when he didn’t see him, waved Tony closer.

“I didn’t want Mr. Colonel Rhodey to see it,” he whispered as Tony stepped closer, “because he was so excited about playing this joke, but-”

Peter held out the hand holding Captain America’s shield, revealing to Tony the forearm underneath-

and the fake Iron Man gauntlet it was wearing.

Tony wanted to cry of happiness.

“I know you told me not to dress up as Iron Man, and it’s kind of ruining James’ costume idea, but-”

Peter couldn’t finish his sentence, because Tony was pulling him into a hug. Peter froze for a moment at the sudden contact, before slowly wrapping his hand holding the basket around Tony.

“You really wanted to dress up as Iron Man?” he said quietly, letting Peter go and stepping backwards to look in his eyes. Peter nodded slowly, looking down.

“Of course. I mean, he’s - he’s kind of my hero.”

Tony’s mouth broke into a wide grin, which he tried to hide by rubbing a hand along his goatee. Peter smirked to himself, a blush rising up his cheeks as he saw how happy he had made his mentor. He thought he might’ve just made things awkward by saying that, but now, he really didn’t regret a thing.

“Get out of here,” Tony muttered as he shook his head, urging Peter out the door - though, not quick enough to hide the blush creeping up his cheeks.

Peter stepped over the threshold, turning back to smile at Tony.

“Stay safe, kid.”

Peter smiled, and Tony couldn’t close the door fast enough to hide his own toothy grin.


End file.
